Help For Those With Down Syndrome: Cough Syrup

Researchers in Australia have found that help for people with Down Syndrome may already be in your medicine cabinet - cough syrup.

An ingredient used in many kinds of cough syrup could be the answer to improving memory, language skills and learning ability for people with Down Syndrome.

Scientists at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have been doing research on BTD-001, an ingredient in cough syrup and believe it could help with Down syndrome, said a report from the Australian outpost of ABC News.

BTD-001 was discovered in the 1920s has often been used as a respiratory stimulant. However, in the 1950s and 60s, it was also recommended for patients with dementia, said Bob Davis, an associate professor from Monash University.

"People with dementia seemed to improve their memory and cognitive ability," said Professor Davis. For more than sixty years it has been established in the medical field that BTD-001 is able to improve the ability of the nerves in the brain to function.

Monash University has now announced that they are starting a trial study to further investigate the effectiveness of the cough syrup ingredient for people with the genetic disorder, which they say has the "potential to significantly improve the quality of life of people with Down syndrome."

It is estimated that Down Syndrome affects six million people worldwide.

Down Syndrome is a genetic condition with chromosome 21, namely that there is an extra copy of it, and it causes physical, developmental and intellectual disability.

This ground-breaking Australian clinical study uses a low dose of the cough syrup ingredient in trials on 90 people with Down syndrome, between the ages of 13 and 35.

The researchers are currently recruiting all around Australia.

This surprising cough syrup Down Syndrome connection could mean a much higher standard of life for those living with the genetic disorder.